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Archiving Time Machine folder as single file

N

nelly22

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 29, 2009
366
5
How i can create zip or dmg or similar single file from my old Time Machine folder Backups.backupdb? I need to permanently archive that as one file, not tons of files.

I think zip file won't work because hard links or some thing like that and dmg might have some problems too.

Thanks
 
How i can archive it as one file? It appears as folder in my external USB disk. If i use Apple instructions how to move TM folder, and then drag it to another drive, it copies all data file by file, not as one single file. Thanks
 
The backups.backupdb file is comprised of all your backups. So when you drag the folder from one drive to another, it will drag all the backups that it holds along with it. The copying of all the data files can not be avoided. You can, however, use something like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone the Time Machine backup information to another drive.

How long do you want to keep your old backups? And think about whether or not they would be useful to you if need be. I do not keep my Time Machine backups any longer than 6 month before I start deleting them. That's your decision of course since only you know what your needs are.
 
I lost my password for the TimeMachine, don't remember putting one in. Do I have to reformat the backup hard-drive?
 
If you password protected your Time Machine backups and do not remember the password, then your only choice left is to format the Time Machine backup drive and start over.
 
I want permanently archive multiple backups.backupdb folders to one hard drive with one partition.

Is it possible to just put them to different folders?

/Volumes/Backup Drive/home mac/backups.backupdb
/Volumes/Backup Drive/home office/backups.backupdb

Time Machine don't need to see these backups. If i ever need to restore something, i just move backups.backupdb to root.
 
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